Exit from International Organizations : Costly Negotiation for Institutional Change

Shows a common logic to IO exit: a strategy to negotiate institutional change. Examining exits across 198 states, 534 IOs, and 100 years, this will be of interest to researchers, policymakers, think-tankers, and for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses on international relations, international organizations, and applied research methods.

Why do states exit international organizations (IOs)? How often does exit from IOs – including voluntary withdrawal and forced suspension – occur? What are the effects of leaving IOs for the exiting state? Despite the importance of membership in IOs, a broader understanding of exit across states, organizations, and time has been limited. Exit from International Organizations addresses these lacunae through a theoretically grounded and empirically systematic study of IO exit. Von Borzyskowski and Vabulas argue that there is a common logic to IO exit which helps explain both its causes and consequences. By examining IO exit across 198 states, 534 IOs, and over a hundred years of history, they show that exit is driven by states'' dissatisfaction, preference divergence, and is a strategy to negotiate institutional change. The book also demonstrates that exit is costly because it has reputational consequences for leaving states and significantly affects other forms of international cooperation.